Where to start re external cracking?

stator

If there's a house you've seen that you quite like, but the external render, mostly pebbledash, has some cracking, where would you start getting this checked out?
Would you make your offer first, contingent on some kind of survey?
Who would you get to do a survey? A Full structural survey?
Or get a mortgage valuation done first, then maybe a structural survey?
Do experts exist who could do a specific survey for just this issue without doing the whole house? Would you trust a builder who does external rendering, or would it have to be a building surveyor?

Cracking looks minor, to my uneducated eye. Mostly vertical around window areas.

All thoughts welcome.

Doozergirl

People often pebbledash or render houses to disguise previous problems. Not always, but it does happen.

Windows will be stress points. The direction of the crack can point to the source of the movement. All houses move, and concrete is not forgiving and will crack, so it could mean nothing.

After all my caveats, a structural engineer could look specifically at movement for you, however, a full structural survey is only ever a good thing, imo, where you have an older house. It is likely to pay for itself.

It can often be cheaper if you commission one elsewhere than through your chosen mortgage company.

Hoploz

Render does also crack by itself sometimes without the walls being cracked. Firstly, check the internal walls in the same places. (Assuming they haven't freshly decorated of course!)

Pete9501

We have a white painted render on the outside and it cracks due to thermal expansion and always will. I just paint the cracks and don't worry about it. However, I did have a full structural survey first off to confirm it wasn't a problem. This difference in price between the two survey types in comparision to the value of the property isn't significant enough.

makeitstop

stator wrote: »

If there's a house you've seen that you quite like, but the external render, mostly pebbledash, has some cracking, where would you start getting this checked out?
Would you make your offer first, contingent on some kind of survey?
Who would you get to do a survey? A Full structural survey?
Or get a mortgage valuation done first, then maybe a structural survey?
Do experts exist who could do a specific survey for just this issue without doing the whole house? Would you trust a builder who does external rendering, or would it have to be a building surveyor?

Cracking looks minor, to my uneducated eye. Mostly vertical around window areas.

All thoughts welcome.

How old is the house.?

Is it detached, semi or terraced.?

I would want to know whether the render had been recently done or was old / original.

Cracking could be just in the render finish or through to and including the brickwork / blockwork. Neither is great, but just the finish is less of an issue.

Has it got any signs of cracking internally.?...If so, it's perhaps more of a problem and would potentially need far more work than just finish alone. Has there been recent redecoration internally where the cracking is evident externally.?

Can you tap it with your knuckles, to check if it sounds hollow underneath.?

Has any external render come away from the walls anywhere.?

Render should not crack, thermal expansion or not. A good spread (plasterer) will know what mix to use in order to make the finish last without falling off or cracking into pieces so your house looks like a jigsaw puzzle. Craked render can be a limited problem, but can also lead to moisutre ingress and penetrating damp, which is clearly less than ideal in any house.

As others have suggested, a good surveyor will know what he's looking at, and should be able to advise appropriately. Also, it might be worth getting a good "well regarded" plasterer who has significant external experience to take a look and offer a quote for refinish. At least that way you'll have two opinions, and will get some idea of costs should you require the finish to be brought up to a good standard.

stator

It's a 1930s semi, I think the pebble dash is original, it only covers the top half of the house with brick work at the edges.

None of it looks recent, so I don't think it's a coverup job. To be honest it just looks like it's been neglected for a few years.

No cracks indoors, just on the outside rear wall.

Doozergirl

Then it's probaby heading slowly towards the end of it's useful life.

stator

Doozergirl wrote: »

Then it's probaby heading slowly towards the end of it's useful life.

The pebbledash or the house ?

Doozergirl

Haha! The render that holds the pebbledashing. It could be patched repaired, I guess but worth following the advice to checking for hollow patches.

Din't just leave it because because water will ingress and it will get worse, much like pot holes. It is only matter of time and the 'stitch in time save nine' principle applies.

makeitstop

stator wrote: »

It's a 1930s semi, I think the pebble dash is original, it only covers the top half of the house with brick work at the edges.

None of it looks recent, so I don't think it's a coverup job. To be honest it just looks like it's been neglected for a few years.

No cracks indoors, just on the outside rear wall.

Not a major deal by the sounds of it.

I would just get a couple of quotes from "proven" good spreads. Can't see it costing too much at all to get refinish done on first floor level only. Depending on type of spar / dashing used, i'd say £3k would be a maximum, and in fact, it should come in below that. This does depend however on whether the old needs to come off, or, whether it is possible / advisable to mesh it and go over the top.

Whichever way, I wouldn't let it worry you one bit.

Edit to add..... There will be cost of scaffolding required too, but this should only be a few hundred quid for a three bed semi.

m_13

Cracking in a house that age could be an indication of wall tie failure. However, it looks more like crazy paving cracking on the render not only around the windows. The derelict property we bought last year had failed wall ties plus dry rot and wet rot. We had cracks above all of the windows and when our new windows went in the bay with the rot had to be raised nearly 4cm to get it all back in line. One of the doors had been made into a wider window with no additional lintel and that caused cracks above plus along the ceiling where the wall had sagged. We had a full structural survey and specialist engineer reports and went into it with our eyes open.

We're using the same structural engineer for the calcs for the demolition work we're doing to take down an extension with failed foundations and a failed roof (the roof has railway track in it and has delaminated). The extension is slowly tipping away from the house leaving a gap and the roof forms the walkway to get out as the house is three storeys at the back, two storeys at the front. Building control aren't allowing the new deck replacing the extension to be fastened to the house due to the clay soil. Our pad foundations are going to be 2m deep in some places. Our house was built in 1938.

Vertical cracking isn't as bad as diagonal cracking according to our structural engineer.